Mythical: Dragon Fable
by zootycoon346
Summary: Four friends adventures in Alagaësia; the childishly mischievous Tariane, the nature-loving Eimearea, the sensible-magic user Daisiea and Luciane, the animal-lover are the heroines of this story. I eat reviews! Feed me!
1. Nightfall

Nightfall

You never go out at nightfall. Our tribe loses about two people every month due to the fact they are foolish enough to do that. Sometimes we're glad that the most unintelligent people have gone, they just weight us down, because in this world you need your wits about you. Maybe that sounds cold. All the same, they would be goners anyway.

The most agile of those people might get away, but only by the slimmest of chances; really, it's just pure luck. If you go out alone, you're dead for certain. If you're with others, that's not much better. But one thing's definite; if you go out at night, the Dragons will hunt you out . . . because they smell fear.

"Got anything?" Eimearea asked.

"Nope" Luciane sighed, looking pitifully at her empty sack.

Tariane bit her lip thoughtfully.

"Well . . . there's always the . . . er-_fish?_"

"Tariane – you may have something!"

"Aww . . . I don't like fish" Luciane moaned.

Daisiea rolled her eyes, something she often did.

"If the something is taking the wild animals in the forest, Luciane, you'll have to make do."

"Luciane, Tariane, Daisiea, Nightfall's coming; we need to head back to the tribe" Eimearea realized, pointing at the setting sun.

Slowly but surely, the sun was melting like wax and spilling across the distant hills. Even though the sky was ruby red, Nightfall was making its way towards the girls. As Eimearea, Luciane, Tariane and Daisiea were strolling back towards the tents, Tariane suddenly stopped in her tracks. She raised her hand and stopped everyone else too.

"Shh – listen!"

They pricked up their ears and focused their listening on the camp.

After a few minutes, Eimearea spoke up, "They're having a meeting"

Luciane nodded her head in agreement. Tariane tugged at the sleeve of Luciane's leather dress, pointing with her other hand towards the meeting. She pulled Eimearea and they tiptoed as fast as they could towards the tribe.

The distant were fading into the evening mist as they raced silently back towards the huts. Sweet smells of fresh fruit and vegetables were weaving out of the Meeting Hut's arch door, and a blazing, warm glow shining out from the hut's shone at their feet proving there was a crackling fire coming from the insides of the hut. The four friends stepped into the meeting as quietly as they could to be confronted with the sight of somebody waving as frantically as they could to get their attention.

"What's happened so f-"

"Shhh!" the person interrupted, jabbing their finger at the far end of the table that was in the middle of the Meeting Hut.

The table was large and circular so that, in emergency meetings, it allowed every single person in the tribe to fit around it comfortably enough. The walls were weaved from a very strong and hardy type of rush that flourished by the bank of the river that flowed through their territory, and the fire had been conjured by Grandpa Wrinkles. Grandpa Wrinkles was about five-hundred and seventy nine years old, had a white, twisty beard that trailed down to the floor, and was renown throughout the Land of Mythe for his magical abilities, such as his spell to transform regular river water into Cola.

Luciane, Eimearea and Tariane followed the strangers point to a very tall figure at the opposite side of the table. The Elder was starting the meeting.

"This," the Elder spoke slowly, "is the most devastating thing that has happened since our tribe was first created".

People raised their eyebrows and shifted in their seats.

"It is the worst thing that has ever happened. And it is not a laughing matter."

Luciane's eyes widened; she had a bad prediction of what the Elder was about to say. Eimearea gave her a look as if she also knew what he was about to say.

"It is the Dragons."

Luciane's shoulders drooped and Eimearea gave her a comforting pat on the back. But Daisiea just looked on in inspiration at the Elder.

"Hey Tari, tell the Elder about the fish."

Tariane looked confused and frowned at Daisiea.

"Huh?"

"What you said before!"

"Oh..."

Then, Tariane raised her hand into the air, and the Elder stopped talking and nodded at Tariane.

"Uhh...Grandpa Wrinkles? Well, I already know that the Dragons are taking all our food, and we should therefore be starved with only vegetables and fruit to eat. But we can have fish!"

The Elder shook his head.

"That is a very good idea, but we cannot be rationed to plants and fish for the rest of our lives."

"That's where we come in!" Daisiea and Eimearea chorused.

"We'll build a trap!" Eimearea cried.

"We'll use some bait!" Daisiea explained.

"And they'll catch a dragon! And use it again and again!" Tariane piped up.

"Yes, and release it somewhere else..." the Elder murmured, "You can certainly try. Well then, you must get out of this meeting at once and start your work! All four of you! NOW!"

"Whaa?"

"Be off!"

Tariane, Eimearea and Luciane raced out of the doors.

However, Daisiea stepped towards the Elder.

"Grandpa Wrinkles, these traps won't be enough with just metal and iron ore. Dragons have a unique kind of magic of their own, and will escape quite easily. We need magic."

"Dear, I'm afraid I can't waste any time putting any magical strengthening's on them myself; I'm a busy Grandpa you know!"

"I know. So...can you lend me your Scrolls of Magic?"

Tariane, Eimearea and Luciane were running as fast as their legs would carry them towards the Blacksmiths hut. He wouldn't be using the tools since he was in the meeting, and it wouldn't hurt to use them for the traps.

"Eims, Where's the metal and iron ore?"

"In the furnace?"

Luciane looked in the furnace. Not one single ore was in there.

"Nope" Luciane reported.

"In the storage room?" suggested Tariane

Eimearea peeked in the storage room. Not one single ore was in there.

"Nope" Eimearea said.

"In the Blacksmith's lunch box?" Luciane asked.

Tariane opened the lid of the Blacksmith's lunch box. Not one single ore was in there, but there was a delicious looking sardine sandwich sitting there innocently. Tariane retained herself from eating it and said there were no ore's in there either.

"Then what are we going to do? We can't just mine it ourselves, can we?" Tariane pondered. Her forehead creased into a frown and they all sat down beside her and thought as well.

"Ah, well, look on the bright-side – mining will help improve our posture and fitness!" Eimearea declared

"Eims, we all know you're overenthusiastic and a bit of an optimist, but we can't really go _mining!_" Luciane laughed quietly.

Tariane stood up and started running about in a small circle going, _"__Whee!"_

Tariane was often hyperactive, and the thought of going mining was making her go crazy.

"Oh god . . . here we go – again!"

"Whaddya mean? We've never gone mining before!" Eimearea replied, her voice only just audible over the slowly mounting noise of Tariane's '_Whee_'s.

"I mean you're always having mad ideas! And this one is THE LIMIT! You're eleven, I'm eleven, Tariane's TEN, but none of us are even the legal age to do mining!"

"If it's dragons, then we have to do anything, even if it's dangerous and stupid and crazy and creepy and mad and deranged and-"

"Fine, you and Tariane go mini-"

"WHEE, WHEE, WHEE, WHEE, WHEE, _WHEE__!"_

"-ng and I'm going to collect samples of air from the forest. Then I'll be able to find out if there are dragons there, and no, I won't be able to hear them. Dragons aren't stupid, they're not going to roar and stuff in the middle of the forest just because they are talking."

Eimarea looked at Luciane, totally unconvinced. Her long, pointy elf ears were twitching slightly, a sign she was thinking very carefully.

"Well-l . . . as long as you're _sure _you're sure you'll be okay, okay?"

Luciane grinned.

"They'll never catch me!"

But Nightfall was dawning. The four friend's hopes were shrivelling to dust.


	2. Air, Magic and Iron

Air, Magic and Iron

Daiseia was still hunting for the scrolls. Grandpa Wrinkles had _said_ they were next to the newt snot, but she couldn't find anything there. Had he confused it with the whale tongue powder? She had looked there as well, but still . . . nothing.

Sighing, she combed back her long, auburn hair and fiddled with the two plaits at the front.

'I really want to learn magic, but I can't find the scrolls!' she thought sadly, plonking herself on a glass armchair in the corner of the Elders hut.

The seat wasn't comfortable, but she was grateful for there being something to sit on. Daiseia was rather grateful and made use of anything that was lying around, probably the reason she was rather gifted at crafting things.

Her hands were covering her face and after massaging her face with them she removed them and they fell down to each side of her hips. Finally, she looked up at the ceiling and yawned.

"Aha!"

There was _another _jar of newt mucus tied to a low-hanging beam, dangling by a piece of thick rope. And balanced on the beam the jar was tied to be the ancient magic scroll! O ye of little faith...

Quick as a flash, Daisiea jumped two feet into the air and brought them down, her eyes twinkling.

Slowly, she unravelled the thread that was binding it together and feasted her eyes upon the thin, slanting charms that were on the page:

Basic Charms:

The Fire Spell

The charmer has the ability to create basic, pure fire in the palm of their hand without getting burned or feeling heat, then being able to throw the fire wherever they feel, for example, a fireplace.

Take the dew of a cobweb and place it on a wild pepper.

Next, hold them in the palm of your hand tightly so the ingredients get lots of heat to them.

Wait for about thirty seconds whilst they warm up, and then crush them in your hands and scatter them on the ground in front of you, whilst muttering;

_Fiery Heat and Fiery Temper, Fiery Heat and Fiery Temper, Grant me a wish, one meagre wish, Make me able, make me able, To enhance the power of the Fire Spirit, And hold fire in my hand!_

Daisiea scrolled across the page until she finished reading the fire charm. She bit her lip when she'd recited it a couple of times and then looked around the Elders hut for some ingredients. Grandpa Wrinkles' hut was chock full of ingredients for potions and charms and spells and hexes etc. All the shelves were overflowing with stuff and there were bound to be spider-web dew in there somewhere, as well as wild pepper.

First, she leapt off the chair and, landing on her tippy-toes, reached to the nearest top shelf. When all she could find was a small bottle of Minor Healing potion and a few snail shells, she started to look in the drawers. Then in the baskets, and finally the Elders socks. Overall, she found:

Five unidentified blobs of mould

Twenty-six parrot feathers

Seven hedgehog spikes

A nasty smell bottled up in a Fanta Can

Several freckles from a toad

Juice from a mango

A pendant of amber

A jar filled to the brim with cobweb dew

Part of a discarded envelope

Quite a few pineapple prickles

A wrapper of a Cadburys chocolate bar

The Elders love heart embroidered knickers (whoops!)

A very, very long pole made of tobacco

One small piece of wild pepper

The cheese of a Kangaroo

A dried up slug

And finally, a withered rose petal

Daisiea pocketed the jar of cobweb dew and the one small piece of wild pepper and sat back down on the glass chair to see if the ingredients were right. Apparently, the amount of cobweb dew was enough for the spell to be used six hundred times, but there wasn't enough pepper for even a quarter of the charm. She would have to venture into the forest to pick some more, and hopefully she would stumble across Eimearea, Tariane or Luciane also wandering around in the forest too. Gulping, she prayed she would be right, because she didn't feel too happy about going into the forest alone with the dragons . . .

Meanwhile, Eimearea and Tariane were waving goodbye to Luciane. It was nearing midnight; Luciane might never come back.

"I hope she'll be alright!" Eimearea prayed to Tariane. Tariane nodded back in earnest and picked up their lantern. They needed it to see their way across the cliff face. Breathing in deeply, they began to walk towards the forest. The forest was in front of the cliff face, but there was a gap in the forest's trees which you could see straight to the cliff, and that was where they were heading.

"Do you know what Daisiea's doing?" Tariane asked Eimearea.

"Maybe she's asking Grandpa Wrinkles for something"

"What would Daisiea want from the Elder?"

Eimearea stopped talking but kept on walking. She thought as she walked.

"Magic?"

Tariane blushed jealously.

"Magic's nowhere near as good as mining at night," Eimearea reminded Tariane hastily, "plus, it's not very brave staying inside, not like you!"

Tariane looked relieved, but was still moaning.

"You never know, if you stay in her good books she might teach you magic too!"

"I don't want to do magic anyway" Tariane sniffed.

Then she smiled, "Swords are cooler!"

"I dunno, I'd quite like to learn a hex or two...do you think she'll teach me?"

"Yep! Still, I want to train with Luciane at sword fighting, she'll never switch to magic. She loves her sword too much! She nearly loves it as much as her nine pets!"

"I doubt she'll ever like anything more than animals. They've gone to her head."

By now they were at the rock face. It was bigger and scarier up close than it was much further away, and both girls were already shivering, and not just because it was cold.

"Let's start!" suggested Tariane.

Eimearea beamed and started climbing. They only needed to climb about fifteen feet up, because the iron ore would start quite low down.

Fizzing with excitement, Tariane fingered her mining pick in her sweaty fingers and –

THWACK!

The mining pick met the rock and lots of crumbled rock fell onto Tariane's head and got stuck in her ponytail.

Eimearea laughed and-

CLANG!

Eimearea soon had lumps of rock sprinkled over her plaits.

BLING!  
DRANG!  
CALOOSH!  
FRAMOOSH!

The air was filled with the noise of mining picks bashing into the cliff.

After about half an hour, they climbed a bit higher until they reached a smooth flat rock that jutted out quite far. Both girls clambered onto it and swung their legs over the edge, seeing what they'd got.

"I've got about five ostrich egg sized lumps of iron ore!" declared Tariane, emptying her hands onto Eimearea's lap.

"I've got another five to add to that!"

Tariane and Eimearea looked at the ten iron ore stones they had collected.

"Let's go further up. There'll be more up there."

Tariane agreed, and once again they started climbing. Only they were steadily veering left, and now when they looked down they could only see thick leafy-green canopies of the trees below.

Now they were at least fifty feet above the ground.

"Ack!" coughed Tariane.

Eimearea turned to look at her friend, who was having a strange coughing fit.

"Ack!"

"Ack!"

"Ack!"

"Ack!"

"Ack!"

"Ack!"

"Ack!"

"ACK-"

As Tariane neared the end of the rock her left foot was on, she stumbled.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" Tariane's screams got fainter and fainter as she fell backwards and tumbled over the cliff.

"Ooh, that looks fun!" yapped Eimearea as she dived off the cliff ledge after her.

The two girls catapulted through the air and into the vast area of trees below, the wind slashing their faces and whipping their hair back over their head. The iron ores were still clenched tightly in their hands.

"Yowch!" Luciane cried, sucking her burnt finger violently.

She was trying, but failing, to light a candle successfully. Now, all four fingers and thumb on her left hand were looking pretty battered. Wisely, Luciane had saved her best (hand) till last, just what she did with ice cream (no, she didn't eat her best hand last, she ate the best spoonful of _ice cream_ last).

"Let's see, strike, hover, light then blow out" Luciane recited, carefully striking the last match on the side of the match box, holding it still, then smearing the naked flame on the wick of the candle.

Finally, a hopeful flickering flame dwindled dangerously on the wick of the candle, swayed . . . and didn't go out!

"RESULT!" she whooped, picked up the candle and popped it inside the empty lantern.

Now she had the lantern lit, she could begin her trek into the forest where she could start her test. Her mind was racing; where was Eimearea? Where was Tariane? More, importantly, where was Daisiea? Daisiea was slightly nervous and could get scared slightly more easily, so really she needed to find her rather soon. She doubted whether Daisiea had gone into the forest, but it would be good to keep an eye open for her whilst carrying out her survey. Luciane drew a deep, long gulp of the fresh air inside her hut and stepped outside. Wordlessly, she began to stride over to the forest.

The forest was a rather interesting place to explore, if you have the courage. The parrots have picked up various swear-words from when explorers stub their toes on previously unseen tree stumps. The monkeys have developed this crave for throwing random jojonuts at the random passerby. The squirrels have been known for stealing bald peoples hats (if they have any) and hiding in them, then when a person with a jungle of hairy hair comes along, jumping on to their heads with the hat on top thus creating a warm sandwich of hair and hat and snuggling in between. The fireflies have warped into some kind of firefly religion, finding discarded magnifying glasses and focusing the suns intense light at themselves, lighting themselves on fire and then throwing themselves at explorers.

Luckily, not all the animals are mischievous, for the mice find litter in the forest and clean it up themselves and give it to the jungle Magpies, who love plasticky stuff, the mice being the neat and tidy animals they are. The Forest Raccoons lick cold people's hands and faces with their warm tongues in order to warm them up, being the warm and furry animals they are. The deer guide lost wayfarers through the forest, being the graceful and helpful animals they are, and the stags take injured or seriously confused travellers on their backs and canter towards the very beginning of the forest, being the brave and nimble animals they are.

As Luciane neared the forest, she began to feel cold. True, in the day there had been a lovely, cool breeze, but now it had turned cold. She wondered if a raccoon might pop its head out through the trees, but nothing did, not even a mouse. When people say 'as quiet as mice' it doesn't necessarily mean quiet, because mice squeak and scurry about very loudly indeed. But today, the forest really was as quiet as_sleeping _mice, which would be a better phrase to use. Not a creature stirred, and Luciane couldn't see a single doe in sight, not even a stag. Lucianes heart began to steadily sink like an anchor was in her chest, and every time she took a step it seemed like there were weights bound to her feet with every heavy footstep on the frosty ground. She looked back over her shoulder, her breath visible in the frosty air. The huts were far away, just pinpricks on the ground, only just in view. She could make out a warm, orange glow from the meeting hut. The meeting was still going on, and now a wind had started to blow. Bravely, she mustered all her strength and broke into a run as she ventured into the dark, frosted forest.

As soon as she stepped under the cover of the black, leafy canopies, the icy wind was left outside and inside the forest was stillness. There was only the bleak outside, and the dark inside. Even though she could hardly see, she began to go inside the forest. At least the candle was warm and casting a light that shone upon the white ground and showed a way. Every step made a crunch on the frosty ground. Every minute was a lifetime, every second was a day. Time had seemed to stop inside the silence of the forest. Only the sound of footsteps on the frosty ground and her steady breathing could be heard. No rustles, no other footsteps, no voices. Lucianes head was spinning, and she felt sick. She wasn't sure what she had come into the forest for. What she was meant to be doing was unknown . . . had she forgotten? No, that wasn't right. It was testing –

"The air . . . test . . . the air" she spoke softly to herself.

Suddenly, there was a rustle.

Raccoons, mice, does, stags, dragons . . . they could be here. No, not a dragon. Don't think about it.

"How can I test the air? Hang on-"

She plucked a test tube out of her pocket. Immediately, there was another rustle. A mouse's heart beats over four hundred times a minute. Lucianes was racing four and fifty times a minute. All you could hear was a faint humming noise. Without thinking, she bent over to the clump of grass where the rustles were emitting from, pushing aside the stalks of withered grass and –

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!"

Luciane's body jerked to the side as something was flung through the canopies and landed with a flump on top of Luciane. There was another ear-splitting yell and something else flumped on top of the other something.

"Nrgh . . ." groaned the thing. It sounded familiar.

"Tariane?!" choked Luciane, clambering out of the pile-up.

"That –cough- was fun!"

"And Eimearea too!" laughed Tariane. Eimearea jumped off Tariane and patted all the dust of her dress before fixing her with a steely glare.

"Before you even say it . . . never cutting my hair! Never!"

Tariane stroked her stomach.

"Cannivabiscuitpleasepleaseplease? Please?" Tariane asked.

Then another voice was heard, a trembling, nervous uneasy voice.

"T-Tariane? L-L-Luciane? Ei-Ei-Ei-Eimearea?"

Daisiea.

"Over here!"

Daisiea practically skipped over to the merry little gathering.

Everyone laughed, and for a while, nothing could be heard except excited chatter about what had been happening to them.

"And then we were just whizzing through the air at six hundred miles an hour! It's so scary . . . but fun! Seriously, there's nothing like it."

Eimearea nodded in agreement as Daisiea gave an involuntary shudder.

"What!? Aw no – the candles gone out!" Luciane moaned.

Daisiea grinned, taking two wild peppers out of her pocket, as well as a bottle of cobweb dew.

"Hmm?"

"Wait a moment"

She unscrewed the lid of the bottle and poured a few droplets of cobweb dew onto both the wild peppers in turn. Next, she put one in each fist, waited for a bit, then crushed them slowly. At the same time, she was quietly singing a beautiful tune.

After she finished, she took the lantern out of my hand . . . and threw a small fireball at the candle!

"Waah?!"

"BWAH?!"

"Donkeys?!"

"No, not Donkeys Tarie, _Magic._"

Tariane didn't look impressed, but Eimearea looked on in awe.

"That's it – I'm learning magic too. Water magic." Eimearea decided firmly.

Daisiea started strutting around, juggling fireballs in her hands.

"Show off!" yawned Tariane, "Oh yeah, Luci?"

"What?"

"Erm," Tariane squirmed, twisting her arms behind her back ",can you teach me how to use swords? I like sword fighting. It looks really cool."

"Here, have my sword to practice with" Eimearea said kindly, throwing her a long, sharp sword.

"An Elvin sword? Eims, this is yours. Don't give me an _Elvin _sword, I'm not worth it. I'll probably blunt it"

"You can't actually _blunt _an Elvin sword. It's impossible."

"Exactly, it's way too good for me. I mean, it has a gold handle, a silver blade, and it's the greatest legendary sword ever. ELVES made this. ELVES, Eimearea. Was it your dad? Your mum?"

"You need it if you're practising with Luciane. She won't go easy on you, and you know that"

Luciane giggled and stepped backwards into a clump of grass.

"Oops!"

Luciane had tripped over something hard in the middle of the clump of leaves, and now the thing was finally revealed.

A dragons egg was hatching in the middle of the leaves.


	3. Broken Trust

Broken Trust

All four friends stared at the egg. It was rocking back and forth, but not too violently.

"That will be one more dragon. It'll hatch in a couple of hours, so let's get rid of it now" Daisiea sighed.

The least thing anyone wanted was more dragons.

Tariane picked it up.

"Feels quite light"

She passed it to Eimearea.

"The egg shell's rainbow coloured! It has to be rare."

She passed it to Luciane.

Tears bubbled in her eyes.

"You don't know what this is, do you?" Luciane replied shakily.

Everyone else shook their heads.

"T-this is a Guardian Dragon. There are only eleven Guardian Dragons in the whole world. The dragon guard the elements, which are Water, Fire, Earth, Air, Rock and the rarest of all, the Spirit Guardian. The water Dragon has an aqua blue shell, dappled with darker blue."

"The Fire Dragon has an orange shell spotted with intense yellow dots" Daisiea whispered.

"The Earth Dragon has a light green shell blotched with splodges of dark green" Tariane recited.

"The Air dragon has a pure white shell with small patches of very, very light pink" murmured Eimearea.

"The rock Dragon has a warm-grey shell dusted with tiny pinpricks of cold grey" Luciane remembered.

"And the Spirit Dragon has a shell that has all the colours of our world merged in it. Like a rainbow, but with trillions more colours" they all ushered together.

"There are two of every dragon except the Spirit dragon. That's why the Spirit Dragon is so rare . . . and we have it"

Everyone was silent.

"Let's bring it back to the Elder"

But they couldn't. Even though the Lantern was lit, and Daisiea had fire in her hand, they were lost.

"Daisiea, do you have any more of that wild pepper? It might just be our only hope of getting out of here" asked Tariane anxiously.

"Huh? Well...yeah I have a bit left – what for?"

Tariane stayed silent as a lump of rock as she took the last pepper out of Daisiea's open hand.

"Here you go Luce. You'll know what to do."

Luciane looked quizzically at the pepper in her hand, until she looked up with a relieved look on her face.

"It's good we have two experts on animals in this group. Okay, Tariane, you know what to do?"

"You bet!"

"Okay then . . . begin!"

Eimearea and Daisiea looked on in bewilderment.

Daisiea looked at Eimearea.

Eimearea looked at Daisiea.

They both stared at Tariane and Luciane.

Tariane and Luciane had started tearing their halves of pepper up into large juicy chunks and scattering them in a circle around themselves.

"They're nuts." Daisiea muttered darkly to Eimearea.

Gritting her teeth, Eimearea grimaced back in agreement.

Now Tariane and Luciane had broke out into a soft, enticing song.

"_Midnight, guide me onwards,_

_Further out of the dark and the strange._

_Midnight Doe, gracefully bounding,_

_Guiding me out of this dream . . ." _Tariane chanted musically, throwing her curly hair back over her head so she could see properly.

"_Frosty hoof marks on the ground,_

_Falling snow is all around,_

_Flying through the trees so swift,_

_For my Midnight Doe shall never drift . . ." _Luciane sang purely.

Both girls hesitated. The songs swirled around the forest, carving their way into the roots of wise, old trees, diving under the earth and into mouse's tidy burrows, swooping into beautifully made nests and whispering ancient secrets to the forest. Everything heard it. Nothing dismissed it. The roots veins flew up to the leaves, and all the sap went to the trees ears. The plants didn't sway even thought there was a whistling breeze sweeping through the forest. The animals pricked up their ears and craned their necks toward the music. The rivers water stopped rippling and trickling and stood still. The birds hovered in mid flight. All heard it. None dismissed it.

Suddenly, the lantern's flame vanished. The wax on the candle dripped steadily onto the floor of the lantern.

Daisiea flexed her fingers and prepared to light it again, but before she could even try her fiery hand extinguished, and the four friends were plunged into deeper darkness.

Silence. All around the wind faded further away, merging back into the shadowy depths of the forest.

Midnight. Through gaps in the trees silhouetted canopies you could see white pinpricks planted into the sacred night sky.

Something. Something was staring at them from deep within the woodland.

_"__What's that?" _Eimearea whispered suddenly, her long pointy ears quivering ever so slightly.

Two large, glistening, dark eyes were blinking curiously with long eyelashes, beckoning for them to come closer. It looked as though it was just a pair of eyes floating in the pitch black of the forest. They couldn't see the head.

Tariane and Luciane exchanged determined and hopeful looks and stepped forwards onto the soft, mossy ground, their shoes making a quiet, muffled crackling noise as Luciane's leg moved onto a dead autumn leaf.

Immediately, the eyes blinked, as if the rustling of the leaf had had an instant impact on the creature. Then, very slowly, the eyes became more visible and a head followed afterwards. Next, two dainty hoofed legs stepped out of the trees camouflage. After that, a slim body with chestnut brown spotted hide tailed after that. Finally, a small tuft of fluffy white tail puffed behind the animal and everyone held their breath.

The Midnight Doe had come for them.

"The Midnight Doe! Tariane, Luciane, you did it!" Daisiea shrieked, slapping everyone's hands with a high five.

The clapping rang around the woodland for quite some time.

"Come on, let's get out of here!" urged Tariane, pacing over to the doe.

Luciane hastily picked up the large, shimmering egg and followed her.

Outside, the tortured wind had turned into icy snow, consequently causing a horrid snowstorm mixed with shards of ice. The wind howled with agony and the snow screamed with hate.

"Heck, what's happening outside?" Eimearea groaned, clutching her ears, "not only is it hurting my ears, there's snow and ice actually penetrating those thick canopies that are covered with leaves!"

The doe shook her fur to get all the snow off. Luciane passed the egg to Daisiea and brushed the rest of the snow off the doe with her hands.

Daisiea shook the egg gently.

"It's pretty close to hatching already" Tariane reminded her as she jogged past to help the poor deer.

"I guess so. We ought to get back – it is midnight!"  
As if the doe had realized what Daisiea was getting at, she shook her coat one last time, even though there was constantly flakes of snow falling down onto her fur, and nodded at the girls. They nodded back, and the deer jerked her head towards the way out of the forest.

Together, the girls were led through denser trees and darker shadows, all the while the raging storm outside growing more and more merciless and less and less calm. Every now and then the deer would suddenly stop and look wordlessly in both directions, and then once her dark eyes would twinkle again she would keep on cantering.

The snow was falling thick and fast, and they needed to reach the meeting hut before dawn. That was when the meeting finished

Finally, after eleven years, seven months and six days half an hour of desperately searching through the hidden woods, guided by the mysterious Midnight Doe, the deer spotted a gap in the trees. She galloped forwards on her thin, dainty legs, large eyes sparkling with excitement.

Daisiea, Eimearea, Tariane and Luciane ran after her, hearts banging against their chests hopelessly. Hopelessly because outside, the snowstorm had grown so much there was no glimmer of hope of seeing anything in the whiteness of the storm. The wind whistled in their ears and the icy flakes whirling around the prickly white air was shrieking with painful, torturous agony; they knew there was no hope left for them. Their luck had run out.

Luciane tucked the dragon egg underneath her thin cotton dress. For some reason, the egg felt oddly warm and – well, nice. She stroked it gently, murmuring to the unborn dragon that it would be alright. But she was lying through her gritted teeth. It would definitely _not _be alright.

"Thank you, Midnight doe. You need to get back inside the forest now – thank you for everything" Daisiea whispered to the little deer.

The deer gazed back at them with happy eyes, winked, and cantered back into the depths of the forest.

The four girls took one look at the forest.

"We're going to die" moaned Eimearea.  
"Agreed" agreed Daisiea.

"Welcome to hell" muttered Luciane.

"Or heaven" Tariane muttered back.

Daisiea trained her eyes on the pinecone above her.

"Let's go" she decided.

They agreed reluctantly, and trekked out into the miserable snowstorm. Tarianes shirt was made of thin leather, and her short skirt was also thin leather. Daisiea's dress was actually of her own design, made of thinned out rushes that she compressed and then sewed into a dress, stitching lots of crosses in a line down the middle, giving it a medieval enhancement about it. Eimeareas was slightly like Daisiea's, but it was made of wool instead. It would have been warm, if the wool hadn't been dried, spread out and caused to be very fine. Lucianes dress was very long, and reached down to her ankles, which was helpful because she could roll up her egg inside it and it would reach to her knees. But the dress material was borrowed by Daisiea and was still rather fine, the only difference was that the sleeves didn't go to her arm's, just to puff out a little and only cover her shoulders.

So really, they were extremely airy, light summer clothes. Most likely they would die out there in the storm, but they didn't anticipate that. Who would?

Screaming in agony and torturous pain, that was the wail of the wind. Mangled and heartless like monstrous skeletons, that was the curse of the icy snow.

Spine chilling and miserably ice-cold, that was the touch of the freezing air. "We've – got – to – keep – going!" urged Daisiea.

It felt like hours of crawling on hands and knees through the thick, heavy snow, but she hoped they were at least halfway there.

There was no reply.

"Come on!"

Still there was nothing.

For the first time, Daisiea stumbled weakly onto her shaking legs, and realized there was nobody in view.

No. No. No. _NO._ This couldn't be happening. Scared stiff, she curled into a tight ball in an attempt to keep herself warm. No warmth entered her body.

'_I need to keep going! I need to find them!' _she thought sadly.

Very slowly, she uncurled and began to crawl around, frightened and distraught. Just as she felt her head spinning, her right hand touched another hand. Her heart raced.  
She gasped.

"T-Tariane? W-W-Wake u-up! T-T-TARIANE!?"

Tariane's cold body lay sprawled across the ground, her eyes closed. Droplets of salty tears oozed from the corners of Daisiea's heavy eyes. She knew her eyelids were drooping. Suddenly, Daisiea crumpled to the ground. Her mind swum no more.

...

...

...

_*blink*_

...

Light? Was that light? She didn't know whether she was alive or dead. Dead, probably. After all, all the desperate, cruel coldness seemed so far away, yet fresh in her mind. And now . . . she could feel warmth. Was that how death felt?

...

No, that couldn't be how death felt. Death was when your senses faded, and your heart stopped pumping. Yet her heart was beating at its usual pace, perhaps slightly quicker than normal, and she could feel a type of warmth – a fire maybe? And- and she could see. Yes, light. She could see the light . . . the crack of dawn.

...

Now it was dawning upon her. She could feel her hair tangled and matted, felt her hands touching something soft, felt beads of sweat trickle away from her forehead.

...

She wasn't dead.

Finally, she squeezed her tired eyes properly open at last, and all the truth smacked her in the face and gave her a shiny black-eye.

Kind, timeless old Grandpa Wrinkles was stooped above her, crinkling his eyes so that they smiled at her.

"Ah . . . I was sure I had lost you. Your breathing rate took a sudden plunge. I don't know about your friends though, they look like they had it harder than you.

Daisiea realized she was in a bed, a comfy, cushioned bed. It was quite relaxing really.

On the bed beside her, Luciane looked like she was struggling to keep alive, fighting a hard battle in her mind. All of a sudden, her breathing zoomed, going so, so quickly. In, out, in, out, in, out, constantly.

_'__Don't die!' _Daisiea thought desperately, _'__Keep fighting!' _

Then Luciane's breathing died down. In . . . out . . . in . . . out. Her eyes flickered opened as she released a deep, long breath. She smiled, her head still cushioned on her pillow. She closed her eyes.

"Hi Dais"  
"Hi Luce"

Everything was back to normal.

Eimearea and Tariane were still unconscious, and Tariane looked as if she was in a really bad state. Eimearea's ears twitched and every now and then she would say something like _"__I don't want to . . . get off! GET OFF!"_ in her sleep.

Well, everything should've been back to normal. Poor Tariane shook violently to and thro, tossing and turning, wriggling uncomfortably.

"Grandpa, can I see Tariane?" Daisiea asked the Elder anxiously.

The Elder glanced at Tariane.

"The cold has had a horrid impact on her. She needs special attention – yes, you can see her – but I believe only special medicine, or even magic, will be able to heal her now."

_'__We'll see'_ thought Daisiea, _'__we'll see' _

She took her first few tedious, wobbly steps on the oak floor and swayed over to Tariane.

"Is Tari alright?" asked Luciane worriedly.

Daisiea gazed down at Tariane.

"Not really, no"

Luciane bit her lip. The Elder had taken the subject of healing Tariane very earnestly. It had to be pretty serious.

"Uh, Grandpa? I need the loo!"

Grandpa Wrinkles pointed a long, crinkled finger at a large, rounded mahogany door.

Grinning at Daisiea, who didn't grin back, she headed towards the door. Once inside the bathroom, she picked up a cup that was next to the COLD tap and filled it up with cold water.

The smile faded. If this plan didn't work . . . well . . .

Whilst Eimearea was muttering something about Grandpa Wrinkles' flowery underwear, Daisiea was waiting patiently by Tariane's side, Luciane was pacing out bathroom.

"HEY TARIAANE! WAKEY WAKEY!" Luciane yelled as she splashed the water over Tariane's face.

There was silence.

Daisiea was staring in shocked dismay at Luciane.

Luciane was wincing at the glower of the Elder.

Eimearea had finally woken up.

The Elder had been taken by a nasty shock.

And Tariane was – with a fair few coughs – opened her eyes!  
Daisiea stopped staring at Luciane and hugged Tariane tightly around the waist in a formidable bear hug, and the Elder was laughing in his kindly laugh.

"All's well that ends we-" the Elder began to say, but broke off abruptly.

His beady eyes pinpointed the Dragons egg peeking out from underneath Luciane's duvet.

Immediately, Grandpa Wrinkles' face burned bright magenta. His tiny eyes bulged and expanded. Steam snorted from his nostrils. His mouth morphed into a furious mangle of an expression. His long, floor – trailing white beard started jerking uncontrollably. His ancient hands shook and shook like mad.

"Y-y-you . . . BETRAYERS! T-TREACHOROUS CH-CH-CHEATERS! BETRAYAL OF TRUST! WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?!" bellowed the Elder.

All the blood rushed out of Daisiea's cheeks. Eimearea turned white as a sheet; she had only just been dragged out of unconsciousness and had no idea what was going on. Tariane winced every time the Elder, the person they adored, that kindly, timeless old man, yelled insults at them. Luciane felt faint and wobbled at the legs. The egg had been in her bed, after all.

"GET RID OF THIS EGG RIGHT THIS MINUTE!" yelled the Elder, his temples throbbing.

**"**THROW IT IN THE RIVER FOR ALL I CARE!" he carried on ruthlessly.

Tariane and Eimearea shakily tried to stand up, but the stress of the insults and the fact they hadn't fully recovered meant they couldn't, and toppled back on to their beds.

The Elder shook his heads at Tariane and Eimearea.

"No, you stay here, you need to recover. _These _two deserve the punishment of seeing their 'precious' DRAGON egg being obliterated. PULVERISED. SMASHED. OBLITERATED. GONE."

Daisiea and Luciane didn't need reminding. Scared by the Elders sudden lash-out, they fled from the hut.

Once outside, Daisiea looked back over her shoulders.

"That was the Recovery Hut" she murmured to Luciane.

Luciane just nodded. Her mouth was dry and there was a lump in her throat; she couldn't speak, and she daren't anyway.

"What are we going to do with the egg?" Daisiea said quietly to Luciane, putting her arm around Luciane's drooped shoulders.

"Smash it. Obliterate it. Pulverise it" Luciane replied coldly.

Daisiea shook her head meaningfully.

"No, I mean how are we going to sneak it back in to the tribes village without anyone realizing there is a critically rare dragons egg sitting innocently somewhere in the tribe"

"Oh"

They walked for a while in silence. It was no longer night but the crack of dawn instead. A quavering, orange sun was spilling sunlight over the mountain tops, shooting beams of radiant sunlight into the glorious red sky above and making its way into the heavens. The two girls were heading towards the river. Today, the sudden snowstorm from last night had cast frost on the once grassy ground, but now that the sun was awaking it had begun to thaw under their feet, thought their footsteps still made cracks on the melting frost.

The river was calm and still, as though time had stopped it in its tracks. Luciane stooped over the river and stared at her reflection. Being so calm, the river was glassy and you could see your reflection in high definition, so it was quite useful as a natural mirror since the river was usually about this calm.

"We can't . . . do this" decided Luciane shakily.

"Of course we can't. So what plan do you have _now_?"

Luciane gazed glassy eyed at Daisiea.

_'__What plan do you have _now_?' _thought Luciane. Eventually, she lay down on the grass and looked up at the clouds.

_'__That one looks like a caterpillar'_ she said to herself,_ '__And that one looks like a basket'_

_'__Hang on, that's not a cloud. That really _is _a basket'_

She scrambled onto her feet and glanced at the basket. Somebody, another person from the tribe perhaps, was clearly harvesting a fine crop of corn on the other side of the river, and there were two baskets beside the kneeling person, one filled to the brim with fresh corn, one completely empty with not one single ear of corn sitting in it.

"I've got a plan!" Luciane beamed a lopsided grin at Daisiea.

Daisiea winked back.

"Let's pray it's not too mad!"

Both of them pressed their hands together and closed their eyes in a fake prayer.

"What's the plan?"

Luciane cupped the hand not holding the egg to her mouth and ushered Plan A to Daisiea. There wasn't a Plan B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, Y, X or Z.

"Actually if that fails we can always use a little burglary" Daisiea added.

Luciane rolled her long dress up to above her knees and tied it securely in place using a double figure of eight knot, and Daisiea did the same with a fisherman's knot.

Passing the egg to Daisiea, Luciane took a deep, refreshing breath, held it, and waded into the river. Daisiea was glad it wasn't a fast-flowing river else she might be swept off her feet and that would be scrambled dragons egg for dinner that evening. Their constant wading churned up the water a little but that didn't affect anything hugely, it just meant that the tips of their thin cotton dresses got a little damper than they'd anticipated. It took a bit of time but in the end they had travelled to the other side of the river with their clothes reasonably dry.

"HELLO!" bellowed Luciane, cupping her hands over her mouth for extra noise.

Both Daisiea and the farmer jumped at least a foot in the air.

_"__What on earth are you doing?!" _Daisiea hissed when the farmer spun round with a look of shock on his face, _"__This wasn't in the plan!"_

Luciane shrugged.

"He might be deaf," she muttered.

Daisiea raised her eyebrows so high they disappeared into her plaits.

"But we don't _know_ that he's deaf!"

"Exactly!" whispered Luciane triumphantly.

Daisiea tried to contort the pained expression on her face into a look of approval, but it didn't work; it just looked like she had a weird, lopsided grimace pinned onto her face.

"What the heck is _wrong _with you kids?!" the farmer fumed, wiping his red, sweaty face with the back of his hand.

Luciane smiled sweetly whilst Daisiea's glower went unseen.

"We were just wondering, O lovely, clever, patient, amazing, handsome, err ... _psst, Dais, have I said enough flattering comments yet-_"

"-I'll take it from here," Daisiea sighed, brushing a plait out of her face and twisted her mouth into a painful smile.

"I'm so, so, _so_ sorry about my friend," Daisiea glared at Luciane, "but we really need to borrow a spare basket-"

"Why?" snapped the farmer instantly.

"It's . . . for the Elder. He needs a spare basket to carry newts eggs in, but his other one got set on fire" Daisiea said smoothly, lying through her teeth.

The farmer's sullen expression instantly cleared, and his eyes lit up.

"Ah, f'r the Elder, eh? Tell ye what, take 'em all. I don't 'ave much use for 'em, but I bet the Elder does, eh?"

"What's taking them?"

After about half an hour, the Elder, in his foul mood, had turfed Tariane and Eimearea out of the recovery hut. Now, they were huddled around a fire in Eimeareas hut, roasting apples over it.

"Maybe they're trying to figure out a way to keep the egg a secret?" Eimearea replied, piercing another apple with her stick.

"Don't . . . you're just being . . . I don't know, _optimistic_. Do you _seriously_ think they'll keep the egg?" Tariane said darkly, staring at her apple, which was engulfed in flames.

"Oh, shut _up _Tari, of course they won't get rid of it. You saw Lucianes face when she touched the egg, she's practically in love with it. As for Dais, you know she's sensible about this sort of thing. We can rely on her to save it,"

Tariane shrugged and stared into the embers.

"Oh yeah, Tari, your apple's on fire," added Eimearea.

"Stop it Eimearea,"

"I'm serious,"

Startled, Tariane leaped up off her chair into the air, jumping an impressive four feet in the air – but that's not important. With a knowing dread, both Eimearea and Tariane watched as the apple flew into the air – Eimearea lunged, Tariane lunged – and pierced the wall. Reed wall. Dry, reed wall. Very dry indeed – too dry.

The whole wall burst into flame right before their very eyes.

"Where are they?" Daisiea asked Luciane, twisted her head back around her shoulders.

"Recovery hut?"

Daisiea recoiled like a spring.

"Of course! That's where they'll be, and all this time we've been searching the meeting room! Yeah – hang on . . . oh damn,"

"What? What is it? You forgot the egg?!" Luciane blurted, leaping up into the air and instantly starting to retrace their steps.

"Of course not, you dunce! They _won't _be at the Recovery Hut because Grandpa will

ve turfed them out – you remember the rule right? If you don't have serious injuries, no staying in there for over half an hour. We've been gone for about two hours,"

"Well why didn't you say?" sighed Luciane, shaking her head in disbelief.

"I really don't know why I like you,"

"That's what friends are for,"

The waxing moon cast a final beam of sleepy moon rays over the land of Mythical, and began to sink back down behind the mountains of the north.

"Well, I'm off!" yawned Luciane, stretching her arms high in the air. Various cracking noises emitted from them.

"Me too. I'm exhausted," agreed Daisiea, "we'll tell them tomorrow,"

"Good ide- hey. . . what was that?"

"Wha – hey, I hear it too!"

A cool breeze drifted through the grassy area, but the sound was still there.

_"__Help . . . help . . . help . . ."_

"That sounds like . . ."

Daisiea didn't need to finish. The two friends looked at each other with wide eyes, and ran off into the darkness.

In just three minutes, the whole house was alight, a bonfire extravaganza.

"My house!" wailed Eimearea, "My poor, poor house!"

"Shut up, Eims, we need to get help. Keep on yelling!" Tariane fumed, bellowing again for help.

Tariane bit her lip and hunched her shoulders between calls. Eimeareas house was burning down, and it was all her fault; after all, the apple had been hers, hadn't it? _She _had thrown it, hadn't she?

"HELP! HELP! HHEELLPP!" screamed Eimearea, jumping as high as she could in the air, which wasn't, unfortunately, all that high.

"Fire fighters to the rescue!" came a voice from behind.

Instantly, Eimearea and Tariane spun round – to see Daisiea and Luciane standing behind them! Daisiea was already pouring on water from a pile of water-filled buckets on the ground, but Luciane was striking a failure of a heroic pose and somehow doing a fancy jig at the same time.

"Quit it, Luce. They need all the help they can get," hissed Daisiea.

"Right, right, okay, yeah, got it, mm hmm, I got, I'm onto it," she mumbled, picking up a bucket from the pile.

"Where did you find all these baskets?" asked Tariane, chucking a bucket over the fire.

"A farmer gave them to us . . . sort of," admitted Daisiea, tossing back her plaits as she bent down to pick up another bucket.

Silence dawned, broken only by the clanging of buckets and the hiss of water clashing with fire.

Finally, after the fire had been reduced to simmering, Daiseia trod on the last flame.

"And that it is why apples are bad for your health," she concluded, bowing her head.

"Sorry Eimearea," Tariane mumbled, hanging _her_ head.

"Hmm . . . how could is this water?" Eimearea asked innocently.

"Cold as ice – scarily cold. Luckily there's just one left," Daisiea replied.

"I see. I see – now could I perhaps borrow this bucket of water?"

"Sure! Help yourse-"

Eimearea raised the bucket high above her head . . . and tipped every last drop on Tarianes head.

"Cold, isn't it?"

_"__Go away . . . 'm trying to sleep,"_

Lucianes hand rose above the blankets and batted away whatever was poking her in the face. The friendly reply was a bitten finger.

"YOUCH!" she cried, throwing off the blankets.

A squirrel was chewing determinedly on the sheets, its fluffy tail going haywire.

"Not _again_!" she moaned, hiding her face in her hands.

Taking a deep breath, Luciane slunk out from under the duvet and snuck behind the squirrel.

"GOTCHA, cutie! You're coming with me!"

Luciane prised the determined squirrel from the blanket and stomped down the stairs to the living room. Halfway down, her left foot suddenly sank into something soft and warm. Alarmed, she wrenched it out. Brown gunk slowly slopped from the sole of her bare foot and onto the floor below.

"_Oh . . . my . . . * ?!**/^%^?!" _she swore, staring at her foot in disgust.

Quick as a wink, the squirrel hopped off Lucianes shoulder and scampered off toward the fridge. She glared all the way after it.

Gingerly, Tariane toed her way to the kitchen downstairs. Possibly, Daisiea was still asleep; always expect the unexpected - though Daisiea being asleep wouldn't be unexpected. It would be _impossible. _

So, with an even greater quiet, she tiptoed all the way down the wooden flight of steps.

At the bottom, she surveyed the situation. Cupboards to the right, but none opened yet, a sure sign Daisiea wasn't yet up. Lights not yet switched on, another good sign. She couldn't make out anything out, but it all pointed to the hope that Daisiea had not yet awoken..

Rubbing her hands together with glee, she released a small, villainous cackle and paced towards the cupboards. With another swift glance around her, she wrenched open the doors and ...!?

"Eh!?" she exclaimed, "Where are the biscuits!?"

Her heart jolted to a near stop. Not the biscuits!  
That was before she spotted bourbon lying irresistibly on its side a few feet away.

"Hmm ... five second rule!"  
Actually, she had no idea how long it had been sitting there, but a biscuit was a biscuit. She snaffled the thing in a record breaking three seconds.

"Hee hee hee!" she chuckled, spying another one another few feet away.

And after that one had been devoured, there was another!

And another!

And _another_!

In fact, there seemed to be a highly – suspicious trail winding around the room that unsuspecting Tariane had not seen yet. Until ...

"GOT YOU!"  
Struck by surprise, Tariane instantly started up wailing.  
"No! I'm too young to dieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-"

"Shut up!" growled Daisiea, "And what were you thinking, raiding the biscuit tin? I've already packed the biscuits in the picnic basket; we've got work to do! Remember those dragons?"

"N – oh yeah! But how did you know I would come down to look for the biscuits?"

Daisiea smiled.

"You're my sister. Is there anything you can hide from me?"

Eimearea moaned. Then she let free another moan. When nothing happened, she groaned so loud several blue-tits squawked, irritated, and fluttered away from the tree house.

"Stop it! The egg's going to hatch by itself!" said Luciane impatiently.

"And I don't think it's going to hatch at all!" retorted Eimearea, "All work, and no play! I'm bored!"  
"That's because you're too hyper," said Daisiea, then turned to Luciane.

"But really," she added to Luciane, "We've been here an awful long time. Didn't you say yourself it would hatch in a few days time?"

Luciane shrugged non-commitedly, still staring intently at the shimmering shell.

"It's alright," Tariane assured her gently, "It'll wake up if I yell at it: GRAAAAAAAAARRRRRGH! WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP! WAKKA WAKKA! THIS TIME FOR AFRI-"

"No, no, no!" cried Luciane, stuffing her hand over Tariane's mouth, "Please! I'll do anything! You can't force it out! I'll ... fine, I'll go into the forest with you guys!

With a wink at Tariane, Eimearea slapped Tariane's hand in a high-five.

"Nice one!" she said.

What were they here to do anyway? Daisiea sensed that everybody was thinking the same question, and said, "Remember, guys, we need to find a dragon. Just get a tiny glimpse from as far away as possible, so we can add up the size, width, length, number of teeth and so on."

They nodded silently, continuing through the forest.

Canopies sailed by. Peaceful breezes wafted through the woodland. Leaves ascended down from above. Sunlight streamed through the branches. Quaint streams trickled in hollows where roots had previously been.

The hours ticked lazily by.

An exquisite turquoise butterfly fluttered onto Tarianes blonde ponytail. Luciane tripped over an out-of-place root and toppled backwards into a tree.

Eimearea became fed up of trotting around on foot and scampered up a tree. A gorgeous wild flower was plucked and weaved into one of Daisiea's plaits.

The hours ticked lazily by.

The hours ticked lazily by.

The hours ticked lazily b-

Out of nowhere, two pointed ears pricked up and rotated slightly in opposite directions, like a pair of satellite dishes. Things had been too serene, for too long. It was unnatural. She didn't like it.

Eimearea was balanced perfectly on the highest branch of the highest tree, overlooking a sea of green that seemed to go on forever. A twinge of fear kinked a tight knot in her stomach. A new scent had entered the atmosphere, so stealthily she hadn't noticed it. It was the sound she had noticed ... a slow, infrequent _stomp_. And there was only one creature she knew that could make a noise like that.

"Dragon! Dragon to the far left! Daisiea, get back! You need to be on higher ground to get good readings! Tariane, Luciane, we need you forwards! You have to be the bait! Keep it in place; don't let it move around too much!" cried Eimearea frantically, scrambling down from the tree.

Daisiea's heart skipped a beat. It was if she had frozen, when now was the time she was needed most. The soles of her feet rooted themselves to the ground. Her eyes wouldn't even blink.

"Daisiea?! No, snap out of it! You can't zone out with a dragon around!" yelled Tariane; this was her sister, and she knew her most. She knew that if something ... heart-stoppingly scary just came out of the blue at her, she'd clock out.

"DAISIEA!" she screamed again, an enraged glint in her widened eyes.

With a howl, she threw Daisiea with all her strength out of the way. Then she stepped back. Right into the path of dragon fire that would ignite her body like kindling.


End file.
